Jeremiah Gottwald gawked at the machines behind the glass wall.
They were larger than Knightmares! More imposing! The sheer presence they emitted…he couldn't explain! His soldier instincts are telling him that these Knightmare Killers are far more powerful than any Sutherland!
"...M-My Prince…"
"What you are looking at is KK-00 Lugh. My first-ever machine. The test bed for future mobile suits."
"...Mobile Suit? Is this the name you are calling it?"
"Indeed. Where Knightmare is built around the cockpit, these are built around a Fusion Reactor, a miniature sun in their chests."
"Miniature…sun?" The man needed a double take to make sure he was hearing the words right!
"Precisely, I am building One Man Army, not a machine for one soldier. These machines are meant to eliminate Empires, not participate in simple conflicts." Marcus explained.
"..."
The man was dumbfounded.
"I… my Prince… I wouldn't dare… but… how? It takes many skilled engineers, technicians, and scientists to make the current Sutherlands. Yet… these… I tell with every fibre of my being… they are far superior to any machine Britannian military has produced!"
The Prince smirked for a bit before getting comfortable in his seat.
"The secret is the scale and the purpose of your machine." He began to explain why he designed them like that.
"When Glasgow was designed, it had a simple purpose, and that was to dominate the area against slowly moving armour.
And it did, when it was deployed, a single Glasgow could dance around a slowly moving tank.
It was its purpose.
After Glasgow's reveal, it was only a matter of time till other nations would develop their Knightmares.
That's where Sutherland comes, successor to Glasgow—an anti-Knightmare machine.
Both of these machines have a simple reason for existing. One removes the tanks, and the other one removes fellow Knightmares." Marcus explained, getting his point across.
"Then… these were designed to dominate the entire battlefield…" Jeremiah realised the scale of this one.
"To dominate against the entire Empire." He corrected him.
"Even then, it's not true. I built it with the intention of making us closer to the space."
"...Space?" The Knight looked confused.
"Observe."
With a hand motion, a hologram appeared. This hologram showed Tanaris launching and flying up and up…
Reaching space itself!
"...Incredible… it can reach the edge of the world! Such power!"
"My goal is domination. While I haven't forgiven my father for failing to protect my mother, I am still a Britannian Prince.
What disappoints me is my father's narrow view. He wants to rule this little rock. I want to rule everything.
Britannian's flag should be on every soil in this solar system."
'After they capitulate and surrender to my will.' The last part, he said to himself.
"That's why my machines exist!" Marcus finished his little speech.
"YES! My Prince! I, Jeremiah Gottwald, shall assist you in any way I can!" The Knight was pumped! It has been years since he followed someone who had this much passion!
Not just passion but the ability to make it happen! With these machines, his prince has reached the very stars he used to watch when he was just a boy!
Truly a glorious moment for the Margrave!
"Good, then we have to start from the smallest of steps."
All of a sudden, Marcus got serious, and his knight followed suit.
"To build my machines and infrastructure, I have created a supply line. The scrapyard you passed through is one of several I have around Area 11.
The issue is that these rebels began to get bold, stealing high-quality material I need.
I can't use my machines yet. This is why I need you and your followers to deal with them.
Your people go on patrols; arrange something for me."
Marcus issued his first order to his knight.
"It shall be done! My Prince! They will suffer for crossing you."
'I never imagined His Highness had supply lines like these? Scrapyards? From a Prince? No one in the homeland would believe me if I told them!
Not that I would. This is glorious! I, Jeremiah Gottwald, shall fulfil my Prince's orders to the latter!'
"Good. In the meantime, they began to gather loyal people, the ones you trust.
Only the ones you trust. To them, you can reveal about my situation and if they wish to follow me.
Those who follow shall be rewarded with upgrades to machines they could only dream about."
"Of course! I know a few who could join you." The knight perked up; he had an idea who would follow his Prince.
"Good, do be careful, because there will be a chance that we will be fighting the Britannians themselves."
Jeremiah stiffly nodded at the Prince.
"However, you should remember that Britannian only value the strong; my father believes that wholeheartedly," Marcus smirked while saying that. He knows his 'Royal Father' is using his Darwinism to push the agenda; he can do it as well.
"If these misguided Special Forces soldiers come at us, my Mobile suits will traumatise them."
"I will keep that in mind. If anyone gets in your way to dominate the stars themselves, I shall crush them!" The Knight declared with a heated look.
"Good. Then let me prepare some devices so that we can stay in touch. Some of my tech can bypass Britannian security."
Marcus checked his computer, selecting a couple of things, then transferring them to a flash drive. Once the transfer is complete, he handed it over to the Knight.
"This is my AI's port. Install it in the Government building's mainframe. Once you do that, you can add it to your computer.
My AI will assist you everywhere technology is present; you can even add to your Sutherland, all of my technology is assisted by this, especially my Mobile Suits.
While Sutherland doesn't have many perks, my AI can assist with energy control." Marcus explained as Jeremiah looked at the flash drive.
"Understood, I will do it the moment I return to the barracks." The man pocketed the drive in his inner pocket.
"Good. Next is a phone that can reach me." The Prince pulled out a blue flip phone and handed it over to him.
"You can use this phone anywhere. It's an upgraded version of the regular one; it has a superior battery among many other things. The best part is that it has encrypted phone calls; you don't need to worry that anyone can track back to you or eavesdrop on the calls." The Inventor Prince explained the perks, making the knight inspect the phone.
It looked normal until he opened it and noticed a bigger screen and an unfamiliar operating system.
"You can voice command it to make it easier," Marcus explained after noticing the confusion.
"...I understand." The Knight stiffly nodded.
"Good. Then once you install Legion on your computer, you will get all the information you need about these pesky rebels."
"Consider it done, my Prince!" The man once more bowed to his Prince.
"Good, my AI Legion will inform you how you can arrange a meeting with me in the future." The Prince nodded with a small smile. He can get this done!
After finishing the meeting, Marcus showed the way outside, eventually exiting through the tunnel exit on the outskirts of the old Tokyo metro system.
~~~
Leila watched things progress with interest. Watching the plane getting assembled is one thing, but it's another to see him gain followers.
Part of her is a bit worried since he is getting Britannians… but he is a prince, so…
Still…
The blonde girl was pondering a more active role. Well, she is already his assistant, but she needs something better to make sure he doesn't abuse the power he created.
The power he has and the power he can make is something that can easily corrupt a person.
She considers herself a positive influence in his life. However…
The girl started to feel that their relationship was stagnating.
They've been sleeping in a single bed for over a week, and nothing has happened; those cuddles and date-like dinners are great… she is starting to feel that it's not enough.
'What the hell, I am thinking!'
At the same time, Leila started to feel that Milly IS becoming a threat. Turns out that she helped her enemy!
It was stupid of her to do that!
The blonde frowned as she blew up a Sutherland in the simulation.
'Speaking of simulations…'
As her simulations continue, her fighting style is improving. New weapons are being developed to fit her style slowly. She is becoming a specialist in field control.
The newest addition to her system was something called 'funnels'. Not only that her machine, which started as KK-00 Lugh, is slowly becoming something else, as in a recent simulation, she got wings like KK-01 Taranis, but these wings were not normal, as the 'feathers' are like daggers that detach and fly according to her intent.
They can form shields and attack separately or become flying projectiles that act like knives.
Before long, Leila could face entire armies…
It made her feel… unstoppable… several times she has faced Euro Britannia on purpose, in all of those simulations, they were like bugs to her.
Not a single time did their weapons even work on her! It was pointless.
It made her understand what Marcus meant by crushing the enemy, not destroying but crushing, making them feel powerless… so that they could stop resisting and accept their defeat.
However, what she feared, among other things, was that one of the future pilots could get corrupted and turn on Marcus, causing a huge battle or even war.
'Or Marcus turning on its own pilots because he got power hungry or worse…'
She did hear something about space domination. To dominate stars, one needs to conquer the planet first.
That means world conquest.
[The simulation for your future mobile suit model is complete.] Legion stopped the simulation after Leila blew up tens of machines without even noticing she was simply pressing the shoot button and using her neural link to corner the machines before blowing them up.
"I see. I wish to continue to practise. Why don't you increase the difficulty and improve enemy machines? Give some of Marcus' technologies?"
[Understood, improving Britannian Knightmares]
Before long, Leila's cockpit flared with warning symbols. It was the first time anything like that happened, as she needed to dodge incoming Sutherland's that could…fly…
While she was able to blow up several, before long, she was surrounded and eventually needed to try much harder.
Even if her machine was still superior, she was overwhelmed with numbers.
That's where her funnels came to help her. However, in the end, she was defeated.
But this is what she wanted! Real challenge and ability to get better!
As she got out of the simulation cockpit, the girl stretched; she got stiff from several hours of training.
Her eyes eventually ended up on screens in the main workshop.
For once, it was not the new Blackbird plane but a new, never-seen mobile suit.
She walked over and inspected it.
"KK-11 Andraste… those wings…" Leila noticed the machine; those wings were funnels she was using in simulations!
'I-Is T-This is my machine!?' She gawked at the design; it looked different from Lugh or Teranis. It was more feminine, with a slimmer frame, and on top of that, it had completely different colouring and aesthetics.
"Oh, you're finally done. I am almost done with the mobile suit design." Marcus noticed Leila leave the simulation cockpit.
"Did you design it already?" The blonde was impressed! She was certain that she didn't spend that much time inside the simulation.
"Yep, I already had a design specific for you all this time, now I had the chance to implement it." He said with a smile.
His reply made her eyes widen. All of a sudden, she felt her heart beat accelerate. She got flustered!
'N-No way…'
The girl shook her head, trying to get over her flustered state.
She didn't expect that getting such a personalised machine would make her this flustered!
'No, it's that smile!'
Once more, she shook her head, trying to get over it!
"Are you okay? You look quite red." Marcus got closer, making her take a step back.
"I-I am fine. Just surprised! That's all!" She tried to explain herself.